FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS: 1st GNO Online Festival ǀ ΕΧΙΤ: Spring ǀ 17 May – 8 June ǀ nationalopera.gr

Ministry of Culture and Sports
1st Greek National Opera Online Festival ǀ EXIT: SPRING ǀ 17 May – 8 June 2020

The Greek National Opera opens a new cycle of artistic programming. The first Online Festival titled EXIT: SPRING and curated by Artistic Director Giorgos Koumendakis spreads its wings into the digital world and invites us to a new viewing and listening experience. From 17th May to 8th June 2020, eleven new music, opera, operetta and music theatre video-performances created during the pandemic, as well as one recorded dance performance, come for free to our homes via http://www.nationalopera.gr, http://www.culture.gov.gr, GNO’s Facebook page and GNO YouTube channel. All Festival video-performances revolve around the themes of the anticipation of spring, the rebirth of nature and the coming of the new. The Festival is made possible by a grant from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) to enhance the Greek National Opera’s artistic outreach.
Responding to the challenges of the time, the Greek National Opera develops new means of creation and presentation of its work beyond the ordinary. While experiencing a new reality, whose end none of us can predict, we turn the forced absence from our standard artistic activity to a new creativity beyond norms and limitations. The first Online Festival EXIT: SPRING aims at offering friends of the GNO in Greece and across the world, a “digital” exit to this year’s lost spring, through music, dance and lyric art video-performances.

Bach, Schubert and Tchaikovsky’s great piano pieces, Beethoven’s Spring Sonata No. 5, Poulenc, Massenet, Mascagni’s songs and arias, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, transcriptions of Bach’s pieces for percussion, “Spring” from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Yannis Konstantinidis’ Dodecanesian Songs, Copland’s Appalachian Spring, Giorgos Kouroupos’ The Assembly of Animals to a libretto by Pericles Korovessis, as well as opera povera and operetta povera, are some of the highlights we will see in the Festival’s video-performances by renowned artists, not just of the GNO, in unexpected places, with unexpected concepts, with a sharp eye, without conservatism, blinders or limitations.

EXIT: SPRING Online Festival / 17 May – 8 June 2020. Starts at 20.00
Streaming via: http://www.nationalopera.gr, http://www.culture.gov.gr, GNO’s Facebook page, GNO YouTube channel

• Sunday 17 May │ Lonely Miniatures of Spring – Piano Theodore Tzovanakis
• Tuesday 19 May │ L. V. Beethoven’s “Spring” Sonata No. 5 – Violin Michael Kolokotronis, piano Titos Gouvelis
• Thursday 21 May │ Streaming of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, choreographed by Daphnis Kokkinos, featuring the GNO Ballet
• Saturday 23 May │ Cellia Costea performs the Lovely Month of May
• Monday 25 May │ For A Spring Without Limitations – Percussion duet Behind Bars, GNO Orchestra
• Wednesday 27 May │ The Passage to Spring – GNO Orchestra Musicians
• Friday 29 May │ Yannis Konstantinidis’ Eight Dodecanesian Songs, featuring Marina Satti & chórεs
• Sunday 31 May │ Opera povera, conducted by Elias Voudouris, directed by Alexandros Efklidis, featuring GNO Soloists and a GNO Orchestra six-member ensemble
• Tuesday 2 June │ Appalachian Spring – A music and dance dialogue by Aaron Copland and Martha Graham – Conducted by Stathis Soulis. GNO Orchestra Musicians & Elena Topalidou
• Thursday 4 June │ Operetta povera, conducted by Elias Voudouris, directed by Alexandros Efklidis, featuring GNO Soloists and a GNO Orchestra seven-member ensemble
• Saturday 6 June │ G. Kouroupos’ The Assembly of Animals to a libretto by P. Korovessis – Τassis Christoyannis. Animation Eirini Vianelli
• Monday 8 June │ When Will, When Will Summer Come? – GNO Children’s Chorus Concert, Chorus Mistress Konstantina Pitsiakou

The Greek National Opera would like to thank all the artists and artistic bodies, who granted their rights for free, in order to make sure that the broadcast of these video-performances of the festival will be free to the public, in this difficult time.

More info: http://www.nationalopera.gr
GNO Lead Donor Stavros Niarchos Foundation
#GNOonlinefestival #exitspring

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